“Śrī Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā”

n November 1931, the foremost among paramhaṁsas, jagad-guru oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura ‘Prabhupāda’ started the publication of a fortnightly journal named ‘Bhāgavata’. His purpose was to initiate in the Hindi language the flowing stream of teachings of the topmost dharma. This magazine was regularly published fortnightly for several years and was then discontinued.

Following in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s footsteps (in his anugatya), our parama-gurudeva, oṁ viṣṇupāda astotarsata Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, began publishing a monthly Hindi magazine entitled Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā in June 1955, to preserve the spiritual legacy of Śrīla Prabhupāda. The magazine came from Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha, Mathura, and its chief editor was his dear disciple our Śrīla Gurudeva, oṁ viṣṇupāda aṣṭotara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja. Under Śrīla Gurudeva’s editorship, the magazine was published every month till 1974.

In March 1996, on Śrila Gurudeva’s command, the publication of the Patrikā resumed. Its purpose is to promote the flow of prema-dharma as practised and propagated by the most merciful incarnation, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who advented to purify the age of Kali. Since then, it has been published every month.

In 2004, by the desire of Śrila Gurudeva, Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā was renamed Śrī Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā. Presently, it is an exceptional carrier of the unadulterated message of Śrī Rūpa-Raghunātha in the Hindi language.

The sole motivation for continuous publication of “Śrī Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā” would only be to fulfil Śrila Gurudeva’s innermost desire and his final order on 13 November, 2010, at Govardhana: “You should continue to print my books with the same enthusiasm with which they are being printed now.” It is therefore only by Śrila Gurudeva’s causeless mercy that Śrī Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā will remain manifest for us conditioned souls, helping us to connect more deeply with him and our rūpanuga-guruvarga.

Finally, we pray at Śrila Gurudeva’s lotus feet to bless those who serve Śrī Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā – and that includes those who read and appreciate it – with the ability to practise and preach the conceptions of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

[Below is an excerpt of an article by oṁ viṣṇupāda astotarsata Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktiprajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. It was published in the very first edition of Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā in June 1955 and is about the purpose of the patrikā. To read the original article in Hindi, please click here]

The use of the word Śrī before the word Bhāgavata implies the eternality of the Bhāgavata. The word patrikā means “the carrier of the message, or the discussion”, so the use of the word patrikā after the word Bhāgavata means that this patrikā conveys the conduct‚ conceptions and discussions that are based on the eternal doctrines of the Bhāgavatam.

Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā also spreads awareness of the meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to sampradāyas that do not have faith in the topmost viṣṇu-tattva: gaura-bhagavat-tattva. Temporary, inconsistent and false conceptions and writings will not be published in it. Useless talks and any topics that give rise to anarthas such as eating, sleeping, defending and mating will not find a place in this patrikā. To fulfil the aforementioned goals, this patrikā will mainly publish the writings of previous mahājanas and of living mahā-purūṣas. This is the speciality and pride of Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā.

In the country where there was once no language other than the Vedic language – Sanskrit, where the sole worshipful object of all souls, Śrī Kṛṣṇa appeared, and where, as recently as medieval times, refined sentiments were expressed in the Sanskrit language, Hindi has been established as the vehicle with which to conduct its administrative affairs. Whatever system is presently manifest and whatever becomes manifest in the course of time and the ceaseless flow of change we will adopt for the service of the divine couple Śrī Śrī Rādha Kṛṣṇa. This patrikā has therefore adopted, with a favourable attitude, the national language of Hindi as the vehicle through which to distribute the eternal truth.

We pray at the lotus feet of all our readers that they fully review the contents of this magazine carefully, for by doing so, they will be greatly benefited. The language and conceptions of the spiritual world differ from the languages and conceptions born of the stream of worldly consciousness, and they are far more profound. For this reason, some parts of this magazine may not be easily understood initially, but for one who repeatedly reads the words of our illustrious guru-varga, its contents will become sweeter and sweeter, just as the tongue afflicted by jaundice gradually tastes the sweetness of sugar candy.

The Śrī Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā team